he was also hired a while back to host the al franken podcast, which made sense given he already hadthe name. senator, thank you very much for joining us. what do you reckon explains the change in her answer? >> well, it can't be that she forgot, and she knows very well what the alliance for defending freedom is. she spoke to it five times. the president and ceo of the organization was at the rose garden ceremony when she got the nomination. in fairness, he was wearing a mask, but not because of covid. he was afraid there might be a homosexual there. she has worked very -- she knows these people very well. i think what she was saying in the second part of that clip that you showed was that she wasn't aware until they were designated a hate group by the southern poverty law center. but she did say, no, she wasn't aware that there are -- they're for recriminalizing homosexuality. and that's exactly what senator leahy asked her, and it doesn't -- she knows them way, way too well. >> is this, as you look at it, as you watch the hearings, do you just view this as a done deal the way linds

i got to respond quickly to something al franken said. hitting judge barrett for alleged hypocrisy during the garland nomination. what you said, the crux of her remarks, in that interview, was that under our constitutional system the president has the power to nominate and the senate has the power to confirm or not. and both of them can act or not in keeping with their own prerogatives. so the idea that she was hypocritical is a gross misreading of what she said. >> i saw your -- go ahead, al franken, go ahead and respond. >> that's one of the things she said. that's one of the things she said. but she went to great lengths to explain why it was proper to seat justice kennedy in '88, but not to take up merrick garland and she went out of her way to say, oh, they're already casting primary votes. that's what she said. they're already doing votes in new hampshire. she did say that. and why would she say that if it doesn't -- if it didn't matter? and this is completely hypocritical, go back and look at that interview. yes, she did say at the

joining me now, former minnesota senator al franken, also host of the al franken podcast. awfully glad to talk with you, senator. >> thanks for having me. >> before we get to the supreme court, sir i want to get your rks to the president of the united states being treated for covid-19. how much of a surprise was that for you? >> i think every american was a little shocked and little surprised that the american president has it. this is the most secure workplace, supposedly, in the world. i think this is in large part because they did not take the correct precautions. we all wish him well. we all hope for a quick recovery. but, you know, they said they were taking him to walter reed out of abundance of caution. well, this is the first time they've seemed to use an abundance of caution. he was ridiculing vice president biden at the debate for wearing a mask as frequently as he does. and the first family was there at the debate. they were required to wear masks. they took their masks off, were approached, given new masks and refused to wear them. melania was one of them. ther

we'll talk about this when al franken joins me next.nken joins me next. el better, but i really don't care. if an opening comes in the last year of president trump's term and the primary process has started we'll wait to the next election. i want you to use my words against me. you're on the record. yeah, hold the tape. lindsey must go and the lincoln project are responsible for the content of this ad. before we talk about tax-s-audrey's expecting... new? -twins! ♪ we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. with priceline, you can get up to 60% off amazing hotels. and when you get a big deal... ...you feel like a big deal. ♪ priceline. every trip is a big deal. ♪ ♪ smooth driving pays off with allstate, the safer you drive the more you save you never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today >>> senate republicans are starting to send signals that they're breaking with

garrett haake, al franken, rich lowry, claire mccaskill. senator franken, you're part of the team today. >> why not? >> you've got to talk to people above my pay grade. no offense, al franken, i'm going to start with garrett haake. we missed the last bit of instruction from lindsey graham there at the end. anything we should know before that? and give me your general observations from where you sit. >> i think he was just clarifying that the next senator to speak will be senator klobuchar, not senator coons who was sitting next on the dias because senator klobuchar was not in the room. obviously significant focus on the democratic side of the aisle on the affordable care act. we heard a lot of discussion about severability which i'll leave it to our legal experts to get into in more detail. but you heard the judge talk about the idea of severability as jenga, whether you could remove one piece and whether the whole law topples down. she was pressed as hard as we've seen her pressed on any topic by senator dick durbin on the questions of vot

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the current senator, tina smith, former lieutenant governor appointed by the previous governor al frankenhe lowest i would guess. >> laura: she does, nobody knows. if she did not lead during any f the violence in the destruction in minneapolis. you never heard anything fromle her. so, minnesotans, you're nice, buts, now it's time to like no more mr. nice guy, you got to put out the fires literally and figuratively. representative daudt, great to see you tonight and i hope you open up minnesota sooner rather than later. up ahead, and response to biden's dark winter morning. "the last bite" next. ♪ .. >> we are about to go into a dark winter and he has no clear plan. there no prospect there will be a vaccine available for the majority of the american people before the middle of next year. >> president trump, your reaction? >> i don't think we will have a dark winter at all. we are opening up our country. we understand the disease which we did not at the beginning. when i closed and banned china from coming in and europe, but china was in january. months later he said i was zenophobic. >> la

extend the time it takes to get a result by months, as happened in the first senate election of al franken, who won by 312 votes, eight months after election day when all the votes were counted. brett kavanaugh knows none of that and his ignorance poses a threat that democrats might have to contend with legally in lawsuits that donald trump is very likely to file to try to stop counting mail-in ballots after election day. the most authoritative guide yet published on what to expect on election day has been produced by senate democrats and their staff that specifies exactly what the vote counting rules are in every state with extra details supplied for the presidential battleground states and the states with competitive senate races. if you want to know which states -- which states get a head start on counting the mail-in ballots before election day, and so might have a clear result to report on election night, that's in the senate democrats' guide which drills home this member. message. in some states, we may not know the winner on election night. that's okay. joining us now is democratic

. >> that was former senator al franken when i spoke to him about amy coney barrett.concerns that it's premature to continue with the hearings especially that committee members mike lee and thom tillis tested positive for covid-19. joining me now constitutional law professor jim mall-green. you have mitch mcconnell and the judiciary committee chair lindsey graham that said they plan to move ahead with barrett's nomination as planned. what do you make of the time line given everything that surrounds it whether it's political or health related? >> well, i think if you look at the overall time line, as senator franken said it's cynical to try to fill a lifetime seat as quickly as they are trying to and in the middle of an election because voting already started and that's an unprecedented move. adding coronavirus and the fact that three senators have caught the or tested positive including two on the judiciary committee, you know, they have the power to do it. they have the power to move forward technically at this stage, but and that's clearly a priority to them, but th

. >> claire mccaskill, al franken, thank you. appreciate you hanging out. all right. a desperate donald trump. now just totally off the ralts on covid-19. and spreads the >>> the trump campaign, otherwise known as the covid misinformation tour, marches right along with trump stumping at a superspreader rally right now in johnstown, pennsylvania. fresh off a covid diagnosis. trump is using his own illness, by the way, to further wage his war against coronavirus health restrictions, sending his flunkies out to escalate his lies. we have trump's tv attorney telling rudy giuliani a packed room in philadelphia that people don't die of coronavirus anymore. senator mike lee of utah spreading respiratory droplets at the confirmation hearing for amy coney barrett, as he spoke unmasked ten days after testing positive for covid-19. and then florida governor ron desantis, who will stop at nothing to move up the trumpian food chain, and that includes infecting others and even himself with covid. giving high fives at a trump rally. ew. and then rubbing his nose. so gross. it all go

that added time, the whole thing ended uptaking eight months but the court backed al franken and that republican conceded. >> i conducted the legal challenge i wanted. i have always believed you do the best you can and leave the results up to a i hoo ehigher authority. i'm at peace with that. >> that is what the rule of law sounds like. fight hard, sure, to the end but respect the higher authority of law over one's personal politics. that the applies to candidates and citizens, by the way. now, how do all these facts and historical lessons apply in the 19 days ahead of us? this is important. let me try to walk us through it. first, this is up to the referees, not the players. so we should all look to the state officials and courts to make tough calls. not the candidates on the field. second, we have to get it through our heads. there is no such thing as election night anymore. this could take time. we need to be ready for voters and the political close to yes, the media, which has made mistakes by getting ahead of the ballots not only in the past, not only infamously in 2016 but again

don't forget al franken took months before he was seated in his senate race. this is not incredible unusual. taking a breath at that point and understanding that the count is just going to take time and it doesn't mean that anyone is stealing anything. it's actually how our process is supposed to, would. we'll go quite a long way to forestalling violence afterward. >> succeeded in navigating between michael on one hand and on the other. and gore versus bush two days before the electoral college convened to vote september 12th. the supreme court ruled, but i want to get institutional guidelines. looking back over the last several years quickly, how well do you think the executive branch under this president has been constrained? how well has the media, congress, the courts, public opinion done in constraining and how-- bart argues there are no adjudicators, there's really no one or no thing that we can rely on in this period that's going to help save us. are there institutional guidelines that could function during this period. congress, the courts, guidance fr

senator smith was appointed to the senate when the seat was vacated by al franken and 2018 and she won a special election to fill the remainder of the term. in lewis is a representative minnesota from 2017 to 2019. ♪ michael: this is npr news. one of the key races is for u.s. senator. mccright tina smith is a former lieutenant governor, was first appointed by governor mark dayton early in 2018, and she won a special election two years ago. if she wins this year, it will be for a full six-year term. a republican component -- opponent served a term in congress from minnesota's second district. tina smith and jason lewis joined me remotely this hour as part of our meet the candidate series, to talk about the issues facing minnesota and the country. there aren't a lot of rules for our conversation today. i will ask you a series of questions. i ask you to keep to the issues, even though you are running for senate, we don't need to fi i ask you not to filibuster. one firm rule i will enforce is that you cannot talk over each other. lk over each other. it sounds bad on the radio, people will

don't forget al franken took months before he was steeped in his senate race.his is not incredibly unusual. and taking a breath at that point and understanding the count is is going to take time and it does mean anyone is dealing anything. it's actually how our process is supposed to work. we will go quite a long way to forestalling violence afterwards. >> rachel, you succeed in navigating between michael and martin on the other. my first question, how to avoid an election season, i mean, gore v. bush when -- two days before the electoral college convened to vote december 12 to the supreme court ruled out of want to get to the institutional guidelines. if you're looking back over the last several years quickly, how well do you think the executive branch under this president has been constrained? how well has been media, congress, the courts, public opinion done in constraining? why is there no adjudicators? there's really no one or no thing that we can rely on in this interregnum. that's going to help save us. but either institutional guidelines i could actuall

senator smith was appointed to the senate when the seat was vacated by al franken and 2018 and she won a special election to fill the remainder of the term. in lewis is a representative minnesota from 2017 to 2019. ♪ michael: this is npr news. one of the key races is for u.s.

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on the supreme court nomination i would encourage everyone to listen to the podcast that al franken has where he proposed the questions he would ask of this judge. this is an atrocity. thank you. host: a supporter of president trump, eric in virginia. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you. topics that are, to me, most important. the first is social media censorship. i find interesting we would never allow the u.s. government to censor our free speech, but ,omehow we allow a private for-profit company to do so. social media is a societal necessity. i think this should be like .roperty and eminent domain they want to take it over. it's for the greater good of society. host: republicans are talking they are at least thinking about letteraing the head of -- twitter. caller: it needs to be an affirmative subpoena. it doesn't do anything. they get out there. they need to repeal -- i think it is article 230 where social media is protected from litigation. wouldocial media -- they be able to be sued and they would not be able to do it. that's the most critical thing they are ableause

you could have been the difference last time. [ laughter ] >> former senator al franken in an ad fors. ambassador to canada bruce hamen and u.s. ambassador to sweden under president obama, mika brzezinski. he served under president clinton as director of russian and eurasian affairs as well. bruce, i'll start with you. is there still time for those abroad to register to vote? or are we running out of time? >> for some number of states we've missed that deadline. but for a lot of states there is still a lot of time left. and a lot of swing states, too. look at texas. you've got till friday to get your federal ballot. but for others the ballots have already been sent out and we need to get those ballots back. so if you haven't sent your ballot back, you need to do so right now. 30 states will allow you to email or fax them. but another 20 states you need to get that hard ballot back. and we're recommending that you use a courier service given the problems with the mail service. but that isn't over yet. once that ballot's in, you need to make sure it's accepted. and we're finding that i

another fundraiser to -- for the boundary waters wilderness in minnesota later today with senator al frankenrness from a copper mining situation that the trump administration is trying to jam through this pristine watershed, which is unconscionable. and in supporting candidates who are in favor of protecting that wilderne wilderness. so i'm doing that today. and i'm out there trying to get on my social media pages the information about voting, how to vote early in your state, et cetera, et cetera, and how to register to vote and how to volunteer. and i'm raising money for candidates in the democratic party. i feel very strongly this is the election of my lifetime, and democracy is absolutely on the line. >> i was just going to ask you for -- final question, julia, why you were getting so involved in what you believed, what was at stake in the next 25, 28 days. your answer is the answer i hear from a lot of americans. they believe the future of this democracy is at stake. can you believe we could have ever gotten to the point we're at right now? >> no, it's absolutely surreal. and you can --

al-jazeera busan south korea. it is kids have you with us hello adrian franken here in doha the headlines allows us here a surge in corona virus infections across france has forced the country into a month long lockdown from friday people can only leave home for essential reasons presidents of crawl says the 2nd wave could lead to more deaths than the fast. the u.s. supreme court has rejected a republican bid to limit when mail in ballots could be received in the swing states of pennsylvania north carolina it means that votes posted on november 3rd can be counted the several days afterwards aid workers in vietnam said that at least 50 people have been killed dozens are missing after a powerful thai food triggered landslides in remote areas authorities say at least 12 fishermen are also dead silence louis reports. the 2 villages where the worst of the landslides took place in a coastal province in central vietnam and this is a region that still recovering from floods earlier this month that killed about $130.00 people and destroyed hundreds of homes the government says this typhoon that hit has damaged 50000 homes